ZHANGYE - Small city but very nice - both old and new parts of the city are equally clean and well maintained. Many small buses everywhere but not too much traffic. No construction going on and very few high rise buildings. Most of the scenic spots are centrally located in downtown (old) area.
Da Fo Temple - 41 RMB - A bit pricey but well worth the ticket price.
Xi Lai Temple - Free - A historical site - very nice and well kept. Sits directly across from Wan Shou Temple (Pagoda).
Zhang Ye Gu Lou - Drum Tower right in the center of downtown - very nice and well kept.
Will visit some historical sites in 2 counties of Zhangye (Minle + Gaotai).
Left Zhangye early this morning and headed for Minle County (75 km) to see 2 historical sites - the Yuan Tong Pagoda in Liu Ba and the Ba Gua Ying site (Ancient Tomb). We arrived at 1000 and were surprised to see it snowing. It rained, snowed and hailed until about 3 pm when the sun suddenly popped out and melted all the snow off the ground.
Minle is a nasty little town, construction everywhere with piles of sand and rocks in front of every other store being renovated, every other store is closed and empty (dead town). Brought me back to reality (China) with people yelling rather than talking, cars blowing their horn without stopping, cars double parked everywhere, cars making U turns in the middle of the road and the horns just blow even more. Sidewalks are filled with garbage and unpaved so everyone walks on the street rather on the sidewalk which only adds more to the traffic congestion and horn blowing. Nasty, Nasty, Nasty!
Taxi fees are 4RMB/2 km + 1.20/km, however, no one uses their meter. Hard to get a taxi because they all have their meter light open although their are passengers inside.
en.wikipedia.org/[...]
This website lists all the National Historical sites of Gansu including UNESCO sites.
UNESCO sites serve only a small percentage of the population in China because of the significant cost involved. Most people who visit these places have no idea of what UNESCO is. They just go because it is a famous place.
The remaining National historic sites are NOT known by many people, and locals who live nearby have no idea of the historical importance of these sites. Most of these sites are Free or tickets are inexpensive.
Visiting historic sites takes me to many small towns or villages where REAL people live, not the FAKE rich people who visit UNESCO sites.
I learn a lot by visiting these out of the way places. These small towns rarely see foreigners so I am always treated well (celebrity).
I also had to learn the names of every prefecture in the province I am visiting as well as every county of each of the prefectures I go to.
My wife does the research of how to get from A to B and she reads comments written by others who have visited these sites. Unfortunately, the people who make these comments have no idea of geography nor the village (Cun), or town (Zhen) or township (Xiang), or county (Xian), or prefecture (Zi Zhi Qu) or city (Shi) they went to.
The history and the geography are a great learning experience for my wife and I. After visiting several provinces and all the historic sites in them we have developed a systematic way of seeing all the sites now.
Visited the Horseshoe Temple - Ma Ti Si in Sunan County, just at the border of Minle County.
This place is very nice and puts the Mogao Grottoes to shame.
Tickets are just 36 RMB. You can buy all the tickets together for 74 RMB but they are not required. The basic 36 RMB tickets get you inside and you can walk and see all you like on your own. If you want to climb up and inside one of the temples than you can pay an additional 35 and 5 yuan for another temple but they are not required.
There are many grottoes and they are NOT closed with doors and locks like Mogao.
You purchase the tickets at the visitors Center which is 3 km from the main temple. However, the 1000 Buddha Temple is just 300 meters from the Main Gate. Cars and taxis are permitted inside the park and there is some walking required.
Must See! I recommend this grottoe over Mogao any day of the week. You can stay as long as you want and walk freely for only 36 RMB as opposed to Mogao which costs 200 RMB and you can not see anything.
It was a beautiful warm and sunny day with clear blue skies. The snowfall yesterday really made the mountains stand out and made for some fantastic pictures.
Ma Ti Temple - Must See! Put it at the top of your list when you visit Sunan County in Zhangye, Gansu.
WUWEI - Arrived in Wuwei via slow (K) train from Zhangye (3 hours). Wuwei is much bigger than Zhangye but not as nice. Has a mix of very old part of city and new highrises.
Taxi Fees - 4 RMB/2 km + 1 RMB/km. Taxis do not use meter but as soon as they see that one is NOT a local they immediately turn on the meter.
Rui An Fort - is located 2 hours (90 km) from Wuwei in Minqin County. It is a nice well preserved fort from the 1930s KMT period. When we arrived it was full of university art students who were measuring and drawing for a school project. Tickets 30 RMB - worth the trip in spite of the 2 hour drive.
@Campo: Note that I'm not objecting to your posts appearing here - in fact they strike me as very useful, and that's why I say I hope you can & will put them on a more specifically travel-oriented site or blog somewhere, perhaps with the comments by others, which are also useful, rather than (or in addition to) their appearance here, where they are likely to be buried among a large number of threads, so many of which are not serious or useful to anyone other than the posters & their relations with each other. I've been through Gansu several times, once to report to a friend who was going to lead some antiquities-tourists through the area, but I would really like to go through your notes if I ever made the trip again.
Wuwei - Tian Ti Shan Grottoe - From the Gong Yong Xing Qi Che Zhan Bu Station in Wuwei take the bus from Wu Wei to Ha Xi (60 km - 1.5 hours - 10 RMB).
Let the driver know you are going to Tian Ti Shan and he will drop you off on the main road 2 km from the main gate of Tian Ti Shan. Walk on this well paved road that runs on the bank of the Huang Yang He Reservoir.
The Visitors Center and Grottoe are right on the reservoir. Tickets are 30 RMB. There is also a small museum that explains how the grottoe was salvaged and restored in the 1950s.
The grottoe resembles Le Shan in Chengdu. A small dam (wall) has been constructed to save the grottoe as it was underwater when it was restored.
There is only one grottoe and it is simply marvelous. Best time is after 10:00 am. We arrived very early but could only get pictures with the sun in our eyes so best to go after 10 am to get the best photos.
Must See! Well worth the trip.
On your way back from Tian Ti Shan stop at the Bai Ta Temple (25 km from Wuwei).
Let the driver know you are going to Bai Ta Temple and he will drop you off on the main road 3 km from the main gate. Tickets are 10 RMB.
No taxis or tuk tuks so walk the 3 km.
The original Tibetan Stupa (1200 AD) ruins remains and for 10 RMB you can spend a good hour walking around at your leisure. Many buses to Wuwei pass by the main road so it is easy to get back home.
@HFCAMPO
When you came back from your travels did you have to go to the police station each time you came back to Kunming?
Only when you leave China, not after travelling within China borders. Laos, Vietnam and so on - YES!
